kid lit


V.20 No.36 | 9/8/2011
Steven Arntson
Heather Mathews

Author Interview

You Can’t Escape The Wikkeling

Kids’ novel is engaging and spooky for adults, too

By

The Wikkeling

Young Henrietta doesn’t have much going for her. She’s squat, pimply and flushes easily. She ranks lowest in her class and is easily the least popular kid in the school. Yet this is the heroine of Steven Arntson’s The Wikkeling. In a brusque paragraph toward the beginning, Arntson tells the reader she will not become beautiful, find a cure for pimples or discover she’s actually a princess. He kindly suggests that if one wants a book of that nature, any school librarian can help.